Morning journal and courier., 1887-05-03
CARPENTERS, STRIKE.

The union carpenters went out on strike
 yesterday, as was indicated in the COURIER
 from the reports about town. A committee
 of union men in each shop waited upon their
 employers according to arrangements and
 presented for signature paper which de-
 manded of the bosses recognition of the
 union by the refusal to employ any but un- ion men. None of the boss carpenters de-
 signed to make any concessions and as re-
 suit ali the union employees went out on
 strike. From present prospects the lockout promises to be very protracted one. The builders absolutely refuse to aceede and the | union men also are strong in their demands. | All the union carpenters with the exception l of few are on strike. The number thus | deprived of work range anywhere from 25O ! to $50.
 l There is no question of wages in the strike.
 In that respect it differs materially from | most strikes which have visited New Haven. l Some of the bosses had none but union | men in their employ and it was thought that l these men would remain st work. They 1 went out, however, much to the surprise of | the bosses.
 l Alexander McWilliams, of the firm of Me- | Williams 6 Arthur, did not know why his men had struck, as he had paid them good wages and had in his employ none but union men. All of the joiners employed by Larkins
 6 Langley went out. committee waited ! on MT. Larkins and wished to have him 1 promise that he would not hire non union
 men. This he would not promise and it was
 for this reason that the men struck.
 The strikers gathered in large numbers about the Boardman
 building yesterday morning, but they l were uncommunicative and little could be learned from them. Nearly all of the boss joiners in this city are affected by the strike. | Those firms affected by the strike are Nc 1 Williams & Arthur, Edward A. Prince, Lar ! kins & Langley, Alfred Holt, William Lin l coin, George Rockwell, James A. Church, l Morris Hayes, Kenney & Phelps, J. H. Leeds | and others. Hubbell, Merwin & Co.,, having all non union men, are not affected. David H. Clark has thirty non-union men at work. The bosses say now that war is declared I they will protect themselves by hiring men l from out of town. They stigmatize the strike as unjust and uncalled for, and say | th&t to yield to the demands made upon ! them would be disgracefuI and that the l strikers cannot expect to succeed in their l demand that nobody shall have work but | themselves or members of the union. The | bosses were indignant at the idea of discharg- | ing long tried faithful and valued workmen, | and were of the opinion that the strikers | would suffer. the most in the long run.
 
 | A meeting of the boss carpenters was held
 last night at the Builders Exchange, at which the strike was discussed, and the
 builders agreed not to yield.
 The Talk About a Strike fin Hartford l -The Men Say That is Not the Way to Put the QuesIion-WhatS Some Em- l ployers Thfnk.
 The carpenters in Hartford are not yet I willing to say much about the possibility of | strike. The Courant says as follows about | the situation there: The plan apparently is | to insist on nine hours, but attempt to shift \ the responsibility to the other side by work ! ing up to the nine hour limit, leaving off \ work then and waiting to see what the em- | ployers will do. It was repeated that Mon ! day would take care of itself and that strike \ was not desired, but that it had been voted | long ago that nine hours should be days | work and that now is the time to insist on it. \ Notice to this effect has been sent to the | employers. It was also said that the de- ! mand was reasonable and that compliance | with it would have to come sooner or later. The employers are generally inclined to | think that not much will come of the de- \ mand. Nearly all who signed the agreement \ to require ten hours are firm in their present | intention to hold together, and disposed to
 
 \ to leave off at o'clock. In many shops | there are both union and non union men. The | latter make no objection to ten hours, and it ' is said that many of the union men have the \ same feeling. Whether there has been for nal order to union men to carry out the plan | of shutting off at five o'clock is disputed. It is both asserted and denied, and many of the ' men simply refuse to say anything on the matter.
 Severul of the employers were seen yester- | day or on Saturday. They first anticipated | no serious trouble. He thought it probable that some of the men in his employ would | leave off at o'clock, but if anyone insisted ! on doing so it would mean that he must ! leave of for good. There were in his shop, | as in many others, many old resident carpen- \ ters who did not belong to the union, and if | there were need of it it would not be diff cult to get men from outside. Another said \ that the strike, if it occurred would not last ! long, as three -fourths of the carpenters \ would, in his opinion, be glad to ' work full time on ten hours pay. | 'We intend to hold out" he added, \ Eff the men do strike" Another mas- \ ter carpenter, who employs some eighty ! men, said: Several of the men have ad- ! mitted to me that while nine hours work ' with nine hours pay was all they were con- ! tending for at present, demand for ten ! hours pay for nine hours work would be \ made as soon as work became more active
 
 | morning. If they don't there are plenty of \ carpenters elsewere, and the vacant places \ will speedily be filed" A third builder said it was idle for the men to claim that all they wanted was nine hours work with nine hours ' pay. ''It will be necessary" he said, ''for \ us to employ extra men to make up for the
 time lost every day, and this, during the ! busy season, will produce a scarcity of ' men which would necessarily result in nigh \ CT wages, or what in effect would be ' ten hours pay for nine hours work. I do \ not apprehend much of strike, however, since business is decidedly dull this season so \ far as expensive buildings are concerned \ Last year when Brown 6 Thomson were \ putting up their building and work on the South school, Wadsworth school and the ad- ! ditions to the arsenal and West Middle ' schools was in progress it was decidedly | brisk. There were more smaller buildings ! erected last year, too." Another builder said \ "While sympathize with the men and think 4 that nine hours is long enough to work do not approve of strikes. The matter should { be settled by arbitration. Carpenters, in my opinion, are a more intelligent class than most workmen and more independent. For instance, when one is put on job he can take his tools and complete it by himself without any overseer. A mason, on the other hand, has only his trowel and depends on others to bring the mortar, etc. Now this tends to make the former less clannish than OGQer WOTkuu0u auu 1d1 uOro luO0p0uO- ent. They possess snug little homes for the 7 most part and want to keep up with the \ world and out of debt; consequently they will refuse to remain idle very long at the \ dietation of others, prefering to work at less pay if necessary. No, do not apprehend | long continued strike.''
 The Union Men Leave off Work. HARTFORD, Conn.,, May 2.-The members ! of the Carpenters union struck this after | noon at 5 o'clock for nine hours. At meet | ing this evening reports were received that \ one hundred and fifty men were out, but | careful inquiry of builders seems to indicate ! that not more than fifty men left work at 5 o'clock and most of these were working nine hours day for nine hours pay. The men | are ready to continue work at the old hourly rate, but want to work only nine hours. The \ Builders union demands ten hours per day. There are not men enough out to cause any \ serious delay to business.
 Carpenters Strike in Waterbury \ WATERBURY, Conn.,, May 2.-All the car-
 penters in this city, nearly 300 men, quit
 work to-day because the employers refused
 to give them the same wages for nine hours